Spurs ready to make club record £18m bid for Valencia striker Soldado

Tottenham's normally cautious chairman Daniel Levy is prepared to sanction an £18million move for Valencia striker Roberto Soldado that would break the club's record transfer fee.

Levy, who is not expecting to lose manager Andre Villas-Boas to Barcelona or star man Gareth Bale to Manchester United despite speculation linking both men, is instead looking to show the club's ambition by bringing in Spain international Soldado to solve the team's problems up front.

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Tottenham currently have only two senior forwards in Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe and Spurs will listen to offers for either, though Newcastle have been scared off by a £12m price tag for Defoe.

Soldado has broken into the Spanish national team and played in this summer's Confederations Cup after scoring 24 goals for Valencia last season.

Valencia sporting director Braulio Vazquez has confirmed there has been interest from clubs in his centre-forward but denied any bids had been made so far.

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Levy has a reputation for delaying his transfers to get the best buying or selling price at the last moment, a tactic which saw him sell Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United for £31m on summer transfer deadline day in 2008.

But it has also left Spurs short of players in key positions, with their Champions League challenge in recent years undone by a lack of firepower outside Bale.

Tottenham's current transfer record is the £17m they paid Blackburn Rovers for David Bentley in 2008 and Brazil midfielder Paulinho, who was signed this summer from Corinthians.